Pages

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

More Antikythera Treasure

A team of archeologists has salvaged a trove of 2,000-year-old treasures from a shipwreck at the bottom of the Aegean Sea.

Earlier this fall, using state-of-the-art equipment and semi-robotic metal diving suits, the divers descended 55-metres below sea level where they retrieved ancient tableware, ship components, and a two-metre long bronze spear likely belonged to a life-sized warrior statue, all dating back to between 60 BC and 70 BC.

The Antikythera Treasures. In 1900, sponge divers discovered an ancient shipwreck just off the island of Antikythera. Another expedition in 1976 recovered the most significant part of the cargo. The massive haul of artifacts from the wreck included the Antikythera mechanism.

Coins and jewelry, glassware, pottery, statues, and even copper couch beds were found. One statue is a classical bronze statue made sometime from 340 to 330 B.C. named Statue of a Youth.

Analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism show it to be more advanced than previously thought—so much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years.

Researchers used three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its surface.

By winding a knob on its side, the positions of the sun, moon, Mercury and Venus could be determined for any chosen date. Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — the other planets known at the time. The device's construction date was radiocarbon dated to around 150 to 100 B.C.